Start Your Own Perfume Business

After you have come up with a few formulas you like, and think others will like. It may be time to start thinking about selling your perfumes.

Try visiting bath and body type shops or local pharmacies and small women’s boutiques.

Ask if you may see the buyer. Show them your perfumes. I have found that cold calling is by far the best way to go about showing your perfumes. It’s much harder to say no in person then on the phone.

Before you go, have some business cards made which have your business name and phone number.

Make sure you have a product sheet with prices and photos. This looks more professional and gives them something to remember you by.

Make an order sheet. Think about having minimum. If you have 6 perfumes have the minimum set at three of each perfume with a free or ½ priced tester.

Fold one of your business cards in half and clip a small vial sample to it.

Offer the store plenty of give away samples for their customers. This way you can support your product. The store will sell more of your perfume and you will help them build a market for your perfume. Offer to go into their store on a few weekends and hand out samples of your perfume and help them sell it.

Try to factor in the cost of your testers and samples into the perfume price. Most retailers will want to sell your perfume for double the price they pay you. Sometimes they will add even a bit more to the cost. If you sell your perfume for $12.00 to $25.00 then they will sell it for $26.00 to $55.00. You may want to offer small roll-on or dab-on perfumes for less.

Living in a remote area will be a bit more of a challenging. But it's not impossible. You can always send out samples with your price sheet. Think about all of the craft fairs in your area. One of the best ways to market is attending a wholesale show. In the link section of our site there are links to some wholesale shows that retailers attend to look for new lines of product.

This is also a great place to meet a sales representative who calls on retail stores to sell your product.  They usually want you to supply them with samples to give away as well as the product sheets. They usually receive a 15% - 20% commission. It sounds like a lot but they have sales experience and are in touch with customers. They will have an on going relationship with the retailer. They may also want to take your product to market, or wholesale shows to sell. This is a great way to get your product out there. The retail market for perfume is HUGE and growing!

Call your city hall to get the requirements to start a wholesale business. The usual requirements are a resale license and a fictitious business name. You usually have to go to your local city hall to find out if the name you have chosen is available. File your name and pay the fees.  You will also need a business bank account with your new business name.

The bank will require you to have your fictitious name. Do not for get to get your resale license. Make sure you collect the resell numbers from the customers you sell to. Then they will not have to pay you a sales tax. Keep these documents in a safe place. The tax board may want to see them. Or you will have to come up with the sales tax you would normally collect from an individual.

The state you do business in will make all the rules clear to you. It’s not as hard as it all sounds. It’s really relatively easy and inexpensive to get all the paper work done. It’s a great feeling to own your own business. Especially when you create the products.